Sights, Scenes and Travel of an everyday person

Tag Archives: Rocky

🐾 A Trip Down Kitty Chaos Memory Lane

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Every now and then my blog stats take a little stroll through the archives, and today they dug up this gem from 2013. I had completely forgotten about it — back when the household was ruled by Buddy, Smoky, and Rocky.

If you think Banner and Balboa invented chaos, mischief, and dramatic flair… oh no. They’re simply carrying on a proud family tradition with great enthusiasm.

Enjoy this blast from the past — proof that my life has always been run by cats.

What are these cats thinking? Part 1

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Morning Rituals and Demanding Cats

It’s just another day in the life here at the old homestead. 3 cats, 1 human.

Stepping out of the shower I’m greeted by my “Bud”. Buddy has figured out that after the shower comes the hair dryer and he loves to have a blow dry to start the day.  A handsome fellow like Buddy has to look his best.

Senior Cat Smokey, aka Mr. Cranky Pants continues his demanding ways. I’m working, Buddy and Rocky are sleeping but what’s that sound? A soft pitiful meow! Looking around I see a small bundle of gray fur curled at my feet, big eyes staring intently, “meow”.

Only the tiniest of sounds. I ask what’s wrong and a paw reaches out to tap my leg. I stand and he uncurls, heading for the feeding station. Oh my, his bowl is only half full. Surely he will starve to death before it’s time for dinner.

Chaos on the Staircase

The laundry is on the first level. My condo, on the 2nd. As I open my door, arms full of clean clothes fresh from the dryer, a black and white streak nearly bowls me over and scoots down the stairs.

Dry laundry gets tossed onto the couch as the chase begins. A black tail with a white tip darts around the bottom of the stairs and disappears around the corner. Hitting the last step, the turn is sharp — just in time to see that tail vanish again at the far end of the hall.

I race down there. I don’t want Buddy running into one of the dogs that live here or being let outside. As I round the last corner I see …nothing!

My heart starts to pound. Slowly I begin climbing the stairs on that end of the hall. First flight, nothing, 2nd flight and there he is, sitting there on the landing, waiting for me.

I pick up his Majesty and cradle him in my arms. Back down the 2 flights of stairs, back down the long hall and back up the last flight to my unit.

I open the door, set the errant one on the floor and close the door very fast.

Laundry Folding: A Full‑Contact Sport

I return to the couch to start folding the nice , warm, clean clothes only to find Rocky has made a nest and is curled up on top of the pile. Now every time I try to pull out a towel or shirt or sock I have to unhook his possessive claw. I try to shoo him away but he only digs in harder. He doesn’t give up until the last item is folded. Then he stalks away, annoyed that his warm bed was “stolen” from him.

The Basket Bandit Strikes Again

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I turn to put the folded clothes in my basket to carry them all to be put away and come face to face with his Majesty again. This time he’s taken up residence in the clothes basket.

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I give up leaving him to play jail bird in the basket while I carry the  stacks of folded clothes to the bedroom. Finally, everything is put away but they aren’t done with me yet.

Some things change… but cats being cats? That’s forever.

Rocky the Lap Cat

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Rocky the Lap Cat

Rocky, retired editor cat in chief of this space, orange cat extraordinaire, was never known for being  a  lap cat. That suited me just fine because I wasn’t known for just sitting around waiting for a cat warmer. But Rocky isn’t getting any younger. He’s 18 1/2. He’ll be 19 in May. That’s old for a kitty cat. He doesn’t move around as much as he used to. I am treasuring every minute we have together. But he’s starting to be a little quirky.

Rocky’s Senior Moments

I can sympathize with Rocky when he seems to be confused. I have plenty of senior moments myself. They can be embarrassing.  You know what I mean. You are presenting in a meeting and you are just getting to your point and it’s gone- poof! The mind is blank and you’re scrambling to not look like an idiot. After that happened a couple of times I’ve learned to laugh and admit that my mind just took a brief vacation. Well Rocky is doing things like that too. He will start toward his food bowl and suddenly stop, look around, maybe lick himself then walk away. The food is totally forgotten.

He’ll attack my arm at 4 am. When I turn the light on he blinks, looks confused and gently removes his claws. I know he doesn’t realize what he’s doing. Maybe he was dreaming I was a big mouse.

Rocky’s Lap Cat moments

You’ve all heard the jokes about the pet owner who can’t move because it would disturb the pet. Well Rocky the lap cat has turned me into one of those! Rocky follows me around and meows-loudly (Maybe he’s going deaf too?) Once I sit down I don’t even have time to settle myself before he is clambering into my lap. Once there he settles in for the duration. Heaven help me if I need to go to the bathroom! I’ve learned to keep the cell phone close at hand so I don’t have to disturb him to answer the phone. Once he’s settled in he doesn’t move. His Tail doesn’t even twitch!  He’s so quiet sometimes I check to be sure he’s still breathing.

Well Loved and Loyal

Rocky has been a loyal pet and returned my love in full measure. If he acts a little strange now or wants to be held, who am I to deny him. I can delay that shopping trip or luncheon if it gives us a little more time together. I hope we have a few more years but I realize that every day is a gift when you have a senior pet.

Tiny Rocky in 2001

 

How NOT to have a productive day

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Editor in Chief

I was trying to choose a post to share and ran across one of Rocky’s old posts. Just goes to show that I’m still scrambling for things to write.  Re-reading it made me laugh so here is is. I hope you enjoy this old re-run. 

Hi. It’s me, Editor-In-Chief Rocky, here to make our apologizes for the missing post today. Our traveling correspondent and main author, Dusty Roads, is having a BAD day. And that is really bad with a capital B! She just locked herself out of the house for the 2nd time in a week.  It wouldn’t have been so bad if the spare key she keeps hidden hadn’t fallen out of its hiding place yesterday and she brought it inside and yes, you guessed it, she didn’t put it back out.

So now she’s spent all morning running around trying to find a way to get back in. Inspiration finally hit her. The pet sitter, my 2nd favorite human, has a spare set. So She called Diane and yes, Diane had the keys with her so off Dusty went to pick them up.

She just got back in and wanted to put the spare key back out in its secret place and, well, umm, let’s just say it was shiny and it had tape on it…two of my favorite things. Well, I don’t think she’s in the mood for me to tell her where it is right now.  She’s turning the diningroom and livingroom upside down and inside out because she knows she left it on the diningroom table yesterday.

I think I’d better just sit back and watch. Sooner or later she will give up and I can sneak it back out  for her to find. It is rather amusing watching her stress out like this. But I can tell you any creative juices have taken a run for it for today.

SCOUT

SCOUT

Scout is preparing a Scout’s Tips column for tomorrow in case Dusty is not back on track by then.  So please accept my apologizes and thanks for your patience.

Rocky

Rocky Update

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If you have been following this blog for long you know that I am a Cat Lady. At one point I had 3 cats but old age, cancer and illness have been picking off my furry family. Rocky is 16 this year and he is the only one left.

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Since I’ve been Rocky’s pet parent I’ve lost Little Joe, a Black and White Persian tuxedo kitty.

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Then there was Smokey; a fluffy, sweet natured gray kitty. He passed away from a fast moving cancer in his mouth.

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Before Smokey passed away our family grew again to include Buddy, another Black & White kitty. He was huge, tipping the scale at 17 lbs he was a gentle giant. Then as suddenly as he joined us he was gone, just a couple of years after we lost Smokey. Again it was cancer although tests didn’t find the actual tumor the abnormal cells seemed to be everywhere and my poor boy couldn’t breathe.

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That leaves only Rocky. My concern was that Rocky had never been an only kitty. He has always been surrounded by a fur family. But here we are 6+ months since Buddy passed and all seems well. Rocky has become a cuddly lap kitty, something he never did before. He seems happy. Of course he has the run of the house now.

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For years I worked a sort of 2nd shift, I left for work between 10-12 and got home between 7 – 9 pm. Now that I’m working a normal 9-5 shift I have difficulty getting “Lazy Bones” to get up for breakfast. On the weekends if I let him sleep in he doesn’t come around to eat until 10 am or so.

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As you can tell, he gets grumpy if you wake him up!

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I guess if that’s the worse problem we have then I’m very lucky.

Let The Long Weekend Begin

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Good evening folks! I don’t have new tile in my kitchen but I do have a new electrical panel…in my living room. It’s the law. You can no longer put that ugly box out of sight in a closet and because of where the old panel is located there was only one place they could legally put the new one. I haven’t quite figured out how to hide it yet. I’m thinking on it.

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My own electrician came in and got me all set up for the Microwave range hood. The new hood will arrive sometime next Thursday, December 4.

Rocky has finally begun to get used to all the door bell ringing and men coming and going. He isn’t cowering behind the furniture. In fact this afternoon he was snoozing under his heat lamp when the Electrician came back with the bill for the panel. I don’t think Rocky even opened an eye. Tim (that’s the electrician) laughed and laughed over him. I explained how the heat lamp had come about and he thought that was interesting but the thing that really got him was the way Rocky was sprawled under it and paid no attention to a stranger in the house.

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All of the people who have worked on the kitchen have asked about the heat lamp. Most thought I was nuts or that I was taking spoiling over the top. Once I explained I got the lamp in hope of correcting Rocky’s habit of over grooming and how it worked, they all changed their tune.

This evening I was channel surfing (I should have been putting more stuff away but…) and they had something called “Ballroom Blitz” on. I’d never heard of it before so I checked it out. OMG I didn’t  know whether to laugh or cry. It captured that world so perfectly from the expense of lessons and costumes and travel to the addictive nature of the sport. It made me miss it. As much as I wanted to turn it off because of the emotions it was pulling out of me, I was glued to the set. If I ever win the lottery I know I’d be right back at it. Its been long enough that I could be an amateur again. I could dance for exercise and the fun of it.

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Just not at Arthur Murray’s. Nope they will never get another dime from me but that’s a story for another day.